Farkas proposes end to 'excessive use' of closed-door council meetings

Tired of what he calls “excessive use” of closed-door meetings by city council, Coun. Jeromy Farkas filed a notice of motion Thursday calling on council to reform them.

The motion includes a clause that would require confidentiality to be lifted after a matter is resolved or a certain period of time has passed.

Farkas also wants a requirement for closed-door meetings to begin only after a roll call or recorded vote of each councillor is held, in which they’d be on record as being for or against going in camera “with a clear legal reason.”

He says every confidential agenda item should require “at least a basic paper record,” rather than exist as verbal‐only reports.

“A lot of these closed-door meetings have been used for political reasons rather than just clear legal reasons,” Farkas said Thursday.

“A lot of the issues that we discuss here at city hall, they’re uncomfortable political questions, but that doesn’t mean there’s a good legal reason for it to be outside the public eye.”

Provincial legislation requires council to hold its meetings in public with just a few exceptions made for personnel issues, legal matters and certain business items involving land acquisitions or proprietary information.

But the Ward 11 councillor says Calgary’s city council spends more time making decisions behind closed doors than any other Canadian city.

A Manning Foundation report in August 2017 showed that Calgary’s council at the time met behind closed doors 4.7 per cent more often than it did the previous term.

Its research shows council met 120 times over a four-year span for about 1,127 hours and 53 minutes, about 76.3 per cent of that time in public. The 23.7 per cent of time spent behind closed doors was up from the previous term, when council met in private 19 per cent of the time.

The study also showed that during those 120 meetings, councillors retreated into private discussions 728 times. By comparison, between 2014 and 2016, Toronto’s council met in private 18 times, Hamilton’s 13 times and Ottawa’s just once.

“Secrecy is not at all on the rise. That’s ridiculous to say,” the mayor told reporters. “We continue to be one of the most transparent governments anywhere in the country.”

Farkas’ notice of motion also asks that any councillor be allowed to bring in outside assistance to closed-door meetings, in the form of independent legal counsel, the ethics adviser, the integrity commissioner or provincial oversight.

He said there should be an investigation process in which the public, or other councillors, can challenge whether a closed‐door meeting was appropriate. Farkas says these meetings should be recorded, so that audio and visual records can be later reviewed if necessary.

But implementing parts of Farkas’ motion may require changes to provincial law.

“What I’m proposing may require some changes to provincial legislation but, again, where there’s a will there’s a way,” said Farkas, pointing out that the province’s new city charter process could be a vehicle to accomplish his goals.

“If we’re giving more (authority) to Edmonton and Calgary, we should be pairing that with more accountability. So there shouldn’t just be more power given to councils, there should be more checks on that power.”

The city is currently reviewing how much time council spends in camera.

In April, Coun. Peter Demong urged the city to tally up how much time council spent in private meetings throughout the past year, as well as look at what subjects were discussed in those closed-door sessions.

“This is about transparency. (We) have to start limiting the amount of time in camera to some degree,” Demong said at the time. “It seems like every single meeting there’s something we have to go in camera on and I just think we should be able to do better.”

Farkas is also proposing council allow a public tour of the “closed-door meeting room,” a dedicated boardroom constructed to facilitate council’s closed-door sessions as part of $2.65-million renovation.

“What happens at city hall belongs to Calgarians. It’s not council’s business, but the public’s business,” he said.

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